


How a story begins

by JannaEnd



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Everyone Thinks They're Together, Happy Ending, How Do I Tag, M/M, Misunderstandings, POV Eren Yeager
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-05 22:57:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4198209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JannaEnd/pseuds/JannaEnd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“But since then you’re here every day.”<br/>“Yes.”<br/>“Why? Because of my beautiful smile?”<br/>“Exactly.”<br/>“I knew!” I laughed. “But seriously, why?”<br/>He stopped typing and looked into my eyes.<br/>“I was serious.”</p>
<p>Every beginning is hard. Sometimes you have to lose someone to realize how much you love them. And all that cliché ...</p>
            </blockquote>





	How a story begins

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, okay, so here we are. Before you read this little story, I have to confess a few things. 1) This is my first fic. 2) English isn't my native language. What I want to say is that there can be ridiculous mistakes. And I'm nervous.   
> If you're still going to read it, I hope you'll have fun. I'm eager to know your opinion too !! :)

Freedom Café was the best in Trost. It was halfway between the university and my flat, near the city centre, but in a quiet street. The design was modern and homely at the same time, the walls were painted green and grey, cream-coloured furniture, indoor plants. In summer and spring you could sit outside in front of the café or in the garden. They had a lot of different types of coffee and hot chocolate with names like _Sasha’s Favourite_ or _Colossal Titan_. And the cakes! I didn’t really have a sweet tooth, but these were amazing. Because I came almost every day the waiters knew me by name. You could say we were friends, we always talked to each other a few words.

So this was the Freedom Café, my shelter, my everyday peace. I loved it. You never felt yourself alone there, but it wasn’t crowded at all.

That’s why when one day I walked in and saw nothing but people I was a bit shocked. I mean… What? …  Then I realized. On this week were The Trost Games. Centuries before the city had been won back from the enemy and in memory of this sport events, concerts, presentations and a market were organized every year. Tourists swarm in to the city and everybody moved out. It was only a question of time until somebody discovered my peaceful little café.

Through the crowd a waiter, Eld, noticed me.

“The usual?” he asked. I smiled at him and nodded enthusiastically. Then - a bit less enthusiastically - I looked around and hoped that I find a place. After sizing up the situation I had two possibilities. The first: taking place next to two pretty girls who were busy with their phones at the moment. The second: taking place next to a man who seemed to be bored of his life while he worked on his laptop. I didn’t think too much. Every sensible human being would choose the first option. I let out a sigh, walked to the table and smiled as winningly as I could.

“Excuse me… can I sit down?”

 

Who said I am sensible?

 

The man looked up and knitted his brows. Judging by his cold and annoyed stare I was sure he was going to send me away.

“Sure…” he put away his papers from the table and continued typing.

“Thank you” I don’t think he listened.

So I sat down and after a few minutes Eld brought my latte. We talked a few words, then Gunther, another waiter told him to go and make his job properly. Eld just laughed and went to take orders.

I took out a book from my bag and began to make notes. The topic: The history of German language. Fantastic… Sometimes I drank from my beverage. The man in front of me drank tea, he hold his cup in a strange way. I continued writing. Then again, why did I want to be a translator?

The man flipped through his papers. He had beautiful hands. They were slim, not too big but manly with long-shaped, neat nails. His skin was snow white. It’s not like I cared too much, it just struck me. I had better things to do than observing him.

He had short, straight, black hair and undercut. His expression never changed, always calm, disinterested, a bit melancholic. Thin lips, snub nose, perfect eyebrows, pale face. I thought about how old he is. Late-twenties, I guessed. His eyes seemed to be tired and their colour was like the sky on a rainy day. And they looked at me.

I blinked.

“Uhm… sorry?”

“I just asked” he began on a calm, deep, nice voice “why you’ve been staring at me for 10 minutes.”

I cleared my throat. Another _Eren Jaeger being awkward_ moment.

“Sorry… My mind was… somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else.” he repeated and for a half second there was a smirk on his face. “What a carefree brat.”

I opened my mouth to argue with the “carefree” and the “brat”, but he continued working and didn’t care about me anymore. I turned back to my book as well, praising myself in mind how mature I was.

About half an hour later the man packed his things together, paid and left. I was sitting there staring at his place and thinking about the great questions of life. I mean for more than an hour I shared a table with a man I’ll never see again. Somehow I felt empty.

 

* * *

 

I was wrong. On the next week the café was still filled with tourists, so I sat next to that man every day, always at the same table in the corner, next to the window. Sometimes he arrived later, but he came to me so calmly like it would be natural. Somehow we began to talk. His name was Levi, he was 31 years old and employed in market research. He didn’t tell too much about his work, he said it’s boring and I wouldn’t understand it anyway. But we had plenty of other topics, films, books, countries where we’ve been or where we’d like to go, the life in general. He was a clean freak and the uncrowned king of sarcasm.

The Trost Games ended, the crowd disappeared, the Freedom Café was quiet again, and we still sat at the same table.

“You know I haven’t seen you there before that Monday, two weeks ago” I said.

“Because I haven’t been there before that Monday” he answered without stopping to work on his laptop.

“But since then you’re here every day.”

“Yes.”

“Why? Because of my beautiful smile?”

“Exactly.”

“I knew!” I laughed. “But seriously, why?”

He stopped typing and looked into my eyes.

“I was serious.”

For a few minutes we looked at each other in silence. My smile slowly faded, and I felt my face becoming red. Levi smirked at me.

“You should see your face” he laughed and shook his head. “The café I used to go to closed, so I looked for another. And I found this.”

“I see…” my face got back its original colour from shade to shade, but my heart still beat annoyingly loud.

“Of course I don’t say that your smile has nothing to do with it” he added.

“Levi!” What did I say about the colour of my cheeks?

He laughed at me.

 

* * *

 

A month passed. The meetings with Levi became a part of my everyday. I was always happy to see him again and a bit disappointed when after one and a half hour he had to go back to work. Sometimes I noticed that I think of him during the day, of what he would say, or simply of his smile. I rarely saw him smiling, usually there was only a half-smirk on his face. It was a pity, he had a very beautiful smile.

On a Tuesday when I entered the Freedom Café he was already sitting at our table with his back to me. I felt happy for some weird reason and I had to fight back a stupid grin. I waved to Petra, the only waitress in the café, and went to my place. Levi worked as usual, didn’t noticed me. On the screen of his laptop there was a strange, colourful diagram.

“Hey” I greeted him.

“Hey.”

“What’s this?” I pointed at the screen.

“3DMG.”

“Okay…” I sat down and put my bag next to my chair.

“3 Dimensional Market Graph” he shut off his laptop and put it aside. “Exactly as exciting as it sounds.”

It was one of those rare moments when he talked about his job. I remembered some of his colleagues’ names, for example Hanji and Mike. I knew his boss is called Erwin, and they know each other since university. I think he remembered my friends’ names too, I told him a lot about Mikasa, Armin or even Jean. So we talked about job, university and friends.

“That reminds me…” I hesitated.

“Yes?”

“I can’t come tomorrow” I knew we didn’t promise to meet every day or something, but I still felt bad.

“Okay” Levi shrugged his shoulders.

Is it possible to feel relieved and disappointed at the same time? Well, I did. _Okay_ , it’s not a problem if we don’t meet tomorrow. _Okay_ , it’s not like I would miss you so badly.

“Can I ask why?” he added.

So… he would miss me, wouldn’t he?

“I meet Annie, we have a project together.”

“Annie?”

“Yeah. Haven’t I told you about her?”

Levi shook his head so I told him about Annie. A lot. I liked her, we got on very well. She had an interesting world view, she was strong, determined and not average by any means.

“… She has almost as many facial expressions as you, but if you get to know her, you’ll realise that she is a kind girl” I finished. Levi didn’t say anything, just stared into the nothing whit a blank face.

“Levi? Are you listening?” I asked.

“Huh?” he looked into my eyes then at his hands. “Yes, of course, just… I had a long day.”

There was silence for a few minutes. I observed Levi as he drank his tea.

“I have to go” he mumbled. He packed his things together and stood up. “Bye.”

“See you on Thursday” I smiled at him. He just nodded and went out.

 

* * *

 

I saw him neither on Thursday nor on Friday. He didn’t come. I reassured myself that he had to work a lot. He just couldn’t inform me. It’s not like he should.

But he didn’t come next week either. I began to worry. What if he’s ill? Or something more serious. Should I try to get in touch with him? But what if he’s really just busy? I didn’t know what I should do or if I should do anything at all. I only knew that I missed to talk to Levi… I missed Levi. This discovery surprised me then made me sad, because I couldn’t tell him. Because he wasn’t here. Why? Did I offend him? Did I say something wrong? Did I annoy him? I just sat at our table next to the window and waited for the miracle, for the voice that answers my questions.

“Eren?” Petra stood next to me with a kind smile on her face, my latte in her hands.

“Hey” I tried to smile back.

She put down my beverage and sat down. There weren’t too many customers.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” she asked.

“My… boyfriend?” I looked at her confused.

“The man you always have coffee with. Levi, isn’t he?”

“Oh, he… he isn’t my boyfriend” it hurt. “I’ve never met him outside the café. We aren’t even friends… more like acquaintances.” At this point I felt like crying, but it would’ve been hard to explain to Petra, so I kept myself in check.

“Oh… I’m sorry… It just seemed… I thought… Well, everybody thought… I didn’t want to offend you or something…” Petra blushed.

“Don’t worry” I shook my head. “It happens.”

Awkward silence.

“Do you think…” Petra began, still a bit embarrassed. “Do you think I have a chance whit him?”

I felt my body tense and my heart break. Still I tried to seem happy.

“Of course, you’re cute and kind. Who would say no to you?”

 

* * *

 

It was Saturday, 4 AM, and I lied in my bed sleeplessly, staring at the ceiling. I had woken up half an hour ago and couldn’t sleep back. Levi was in my mind. Two weeks passed since he disappeared. I missed him. I wanted to see him. I wanted to talk to him. Where did he go?

I felt terrible.

I was angry at him.

I was angry at myself.

I was tired.

I couldn’t sleep.

At 5 o’clock I crawled out of the bed but I had no clue what to do. After 15 minutes of pointless strolling I decided to go running to the park. Usually I went late afternoon or in the evening, but it was an emergency.

At six I was already running. The park was practically empty, I didn’t have to pay attention where I run. The music was loud in my ears, my heart beat fast. I tried to concentrate on my breathing. In, out. In, out. I felt like I would run for my life. What the hell am I doing?

I’ve never been insecure, I knew what I wanted and I always got it. If I decided something, I made it. I fought tooth and nail, didn’t run away. And Levi… a man I’ve only known for a month came and made me unsure. I didn’t realize I love him until he disappeared. I didn’t realize I don’t know him until I had no chance to ask him anything. Why didn’t I notice earlier?

I. Fucked. Up. I. Fucked. Up.

The words echoed in my head by each step. I could barely breathe but I continued running faster and faster. My eyes were glued to the ground. I turned left.

I bumped into someone and we almost fell over.

“S-sorry, I-I’m…” I became quiet.

Levi’s eyes were wide. He stood in front of me, my hand on his right arm, and his left hand on my chest. His face was red, there was sweat on his forehead and he breathed as fast as me. For minutes we just stared at each other, then I realized the situation, took a step back and released his arm.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Long time no see.”

“Yeah… I was busy” his voice was quiet. I liked it. I liked Levi. I liked him. _I like you. I missed you._

“Petra missed you” I said.

“I met her.”

“Oh.” Oh, no, no, no, no… “And?” Did I mention I’m a masochist? Levi just looked at me for a while.

“She told me that she liked me” he said eventually.

“So… are you… going out now?” I tried to smile.

He just shook his head.

“Why?” I asked. “She’s cute… and kind.” I think I didn’t really know what I am doing. The pain I caused myself with these questions almost felt good.

“Yes, she’s great, but…” Levi looked into my eyes, searching for the best words. “But I… So I’m not… straight.”

“I-I see” I fought back the urge to scream and dance around like a little child who just got some candy.

Levi cleared his throat.

“And what’s with you and… what was her name? Ana?”

I knitted my brows.

“You mean Annie? Nothing. We finished the project.” I didn’t really understand where this topic came from.

“And?” he asked.

“And?” I asked back.

“Oh, come on. I know you have a crush on her” he rolled his eyes.

“I don’t” I shook my head. He just stared at me.

“I really do not-” I stopped. And then suddenly it became clear to me. “Oh my God…” I whispered. “Oh my holy God!” I laughed loudly. All the sorrow and bitterness of the past two weeks turned into nothing. I stepped closer to Levi and embraced him tightly. It felt so good. I noticed only then how short he is, the top of his head was under my chin.

“Ere-”

“I don’t love her. I really don’t love her. She’s just a good friend.”

“I thought…” Levi didn’t finish the sentence, but I felt him slowly relax in my arms.

“I missed you” I whispered. “I missed you so much.” I pulled a bit back so I was able to look into his eyes. “Don’t disappear again.”

He didn’t say anything just smiled at me. His lips were thin and soft and they felt amazing against mine.

“I missed you too, brat” he murmured when we parted.

 

* * *

 

 At half past seven we walked around in the park hand in hand.

“For five years I’ve been coming to run every morning, but I’ve never seen you there before” Levi said. I stopped.

“You’re just joking.”

He pulled up an eyebrow.

“For three years I’ve been coming to run every afternoon.”

He blinked a few.

“We’re so pathetic.”

 

He was right. But hey, that’s how our story began.


End file.
